Day 5- October 15 '11

Day 5- Oct 15’11

iron cutout on boulder outside CDC

845a shuttle ride to CDC (Christchurch Distribution Center) where the first half of the group would be receiving our issued cold weather gear. ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) sizing forms were filled out during recruitment. 2 orange bags with our names were waiting for us to dive in and start trying stuff on and exchanging what didn’t fit. I was allowed to bring some of my own, but kept some of theirs just in case.

The whole process was so hot and uncomfortable. Trying on layers and layers of extra warm clothes in a large open room with 20 other girls was so far the least fun thing.  Along with deciding what to keep and turn back in, was also the decisions of what to check, what to carryon and how to stay within the weight limit of 150#.  I was worried most of the day that what I was carrying on was not enough to keep my checked stuff under the 150#. It ended up working out fine and I worried needlessly.

Being part of the first group early in the day definitely had the advantage of time to explore Christchurch a little.  Our core group was making plans for lunch and a walk to the botanical gardens.  Knowing that I would probably want to take my time and take lots of pictures, I told the group I  would meet up with them there. They also wanted to do lunch at a Japanese joint and that didn’t appeal to me, so I headed out on my own in search of palatable food for lunch and a leisurely walk to the gardens.

Firefighter Jake from Hawaii

I spotted a pizza/Italian place called Spagos and as I was about to cross the street, I heard someone shout my name. It was fireman Jake from Hawaii. I enjoyed a nice lunch of chicken/bacon carbonera while he ate venison pizza and he introduced me to Isaac’s Cider- a delicious carbonated beverage.

Jake had bought a new Canon T3 camera and had a few lenses but not the knowledge to use them. I was happy to help him with some pointers as we walked along to the botanical gardens. He seemed content to go my pace of slow and quickly picked up photo composition.  He had some jokes about the size of the lens I was carrying ( my new 28mm-300mm hefty) asking it if it was a telescope or if I could see the Hubbell Telescope itself.

Springtime in New Zealand is gorgeous. It was a 70 degree day. A little too hot for me but a little too cold for Jake. We moseyed along. He didn’t seem to mind the frequent stops to take pix of ducks and flowers. Our group eventually met up with us but was walking at a faster pace than I cared to walk and still take my time to take pix. So they went on ahead. Jake and I came upon Mikey K reading on a bench. We sat and relaxed a bit with him and watched the male ducks mercilessly chase and harass the female ducks.

On our way back, we went past the barricades blocking off downtown Christchurch. Downtown Christchurch was the epicenter of a horrendous earthquake in February of this year. From what we could see, it looked like a warzone, shell-shocked and crumbling. Surreally, it could have been a movie set for a post apocalyptic drama. February was the time when the Antarctica summer contractors are coming off the Ice back into Christchurch. Many Raytheon and NANA employees were affected. Both the girls I work with in Air Services were in Christchurch when the earthquake hit. Christen and her boyfriend Kevin had just left the hotel to go exploring. They had on them their cameras, passports, wallets and other essentials.  Moments later, their hotel sank into the ground along with the rest of their belongings and clothes. New Zealand has recently emailed some people letting them know that officials are slowly opening certain sites, allowing recovery of personal effects of  guests and that they hoped to have their belongings by the end of November.

Broken windows, cracked and crumbling walls, split foundations…. The devastation is still quite evident.